


any kind of future with you

by VortaBurnish



Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Ice Cream Parlors, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-13 16:06:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29404527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VortaBurnish/pseuds/VortaBurnish
Summary: Lio is used to facing uncertainty, but it's so much harder now that he has something to lose. Fortunately, when he finds himself caught between the comfortable familiarity of his life with Burning Rescue and his desire to pursue formal education and a career in Burnish activism, Galo is there to remind him that there are some things he doesn't have to worry about losing.
Relationships: Lio Fotia/Galo Thymos
Comments: 3
Kudos: 38





	any kind of future with you

**Author's Note:**

> This was my piece for the [Embers](https://twitter.com/embersgalolio) GaloLio slice of life fanzine! Thanks so much to the mods for having me, it's always a delight writing these two together.

Walking to the ice cream shop after work on Fridays has become a ritual so ingrained that Lio barely has to think about it anymore. It’s something that started before he and Galo were even dating, when Galo dragged him off without warning because a new ice cream place had opened near the Burning Rescue station and he wanted to try it out. At that point Lio was technically just Galo’s roommate and friend, still stressing himself out wondering if he was reading too much into Galo’s frequent friendly touches, if the way he grinned at Lio while eating their ice cream was _solely_ because he was enjoying the dessert or if the company had something to do with it as well.

That uncertainty is well behind them now, nearly a year into their relationship. Friday ice cream is officially a date and it has been for a while. Lio likes the routine, likes knowing he and Galo will make time to slow down and enjoy each other’s company no matter how chaotic the week gets, likes the way Galo gets way too excited about trying new flavors and how he always absentmindedly puts his arm around Lio’s shoulders while they’re considering the menu. Today, though, is different - Lio is sitting at their usual table alone, feet propped up on the tabletop as he checks his phone repeatedly and waits for his boyfriend to arrive.

He’s been studying for months to get his high school diploma, and today was the long-awaited exam. Rather than heading for the Burning Rescue station with Galo in the morning, he’d been off to the testing center at Promepolis Community College, joining a group of other test-takers, many of whom were other ex-Burnish. Lio was just a kid when he got his first Burnish flare; he’s one of many who never got the chance to finish high school. He’s been doing everything he can to make sure they have every opportunity to build a life for themselves now that the Promare are gone, and education is one piece of the puzzle. It made his heart swell with pride seeing so many people he knew from the settlement showing up on campus, chasing dreams and aspirations long denied to them. 

The fire may be gone, but Lio would still move mountains for his people if he could.

“Lio!!”

Lio looks up, and his expression automatically softens as his gaze lands on Galo, jogging up to him and waving. He leans down to plant a kiss on Lio’s cheek. “You weren’t waiting too long, right?”

Lio smiles. “No, don’t worry. How was work?”

Galo shrugs. “Pretty quiet, except Lucia’s got this new prototype and we- wait, no, you first. What about _your_ day? Did you get the test results yet?”

“Yeah, about an hour ago…” Lio stands up, tries to act nonchalant. Galo sees right through his act, though.

“ _And?_ ”

Lio gestures to himself with a crooked smile. “You’re looking at Promepolis’s newest high school graduate.”

“Yeah! I knew you could do it!” Galo grabs Lio in a tight hug, and before Lio can stop him he’s swept the smaller man up and spun him around once before gently placing him back on the ground. Lio finds himself laughing despite himself. “You’re like, the smartest person I know. There’s no way you weren’t gonna pass that test.”

“That’s objectively not true, considering we both know Dr. Ardebit, but I’ll take the compliment.”

“Pssh. I bet you could be a boring scientist too if you really wanted to.”

Lio snorts. “Thanks? I think?”

Galo throws an arm around Lio’s shoulders as they walk toward the counter, both of them staring up at the menu on display over it. “So what’re you gonna do with all your free time now that you don’t have to study anymore?”

Lio winces. “Let’s talk about it after we get our ice cream,” he says quickly.

Damn Galo and his stupid perceptive face. By the time they get their sundaes and sit down at their usual table, he’s definitely picked up on the fact that there’s something Lio isn’t saying. Galo looks across the table at him, and Lio doesn’t think he’s ever seen him look that serious while eating an ice cream sundae. Another twinge of guilt - he didn’t mean to make Galo worry.

He knows from experience that putting it off won’t work – Galo has a terribly disarming way of coaxing Lio’s worries out of him. So he steels himself and clears his throat. “So… I… talked to Maria about my test scores.” He’s been working with Maria for a while now, a social worker from the growing coalition of professionals who have been offering their services to the ex-Burnish. She’s not ex-Burnish herself, but her girlfriend is, and she’s thrown herself into helping them with a protective fervor that Lio understands and appreciates. Lio doesn’t like taking personal advantage of the services he’s setting up for ex-Burnish, even if he technically _does_ qualify, but at some point he and Maria wound up talking about his own aspirations and lack of formal education, and the next thing he knew she was emailing him study guides and sample tests. She’s doggedly persistent even in the face of Lio’s stubbornness, and it reminds him of Galo.

Galo’s frown only deepens, still trying to piece together the puzzle of Lio’s subdued mood. “You don’t sound happy about it. Was she not pleased with your results or something?”

“No, nothing like that. I mean, if I’d gotten a low score she just would’ve helped me figure out my options. But I - I didn’t get a low score. It was better than we expected, actually.” Lio swallows hard. “She thinks… she’s pretty sure I could get into Promepolis University. Even… the Prometh Institute, if my application is really good, and there’s some scholarship programs being put together for ex-Burnish, so I could have a chance.” He’d protested when Maria suggested the scholarships, but she’d sent him all the applications anyway, undeterred.

Galo looks taken aback, his eyes wide. He leans forward, squinting suspiciously at Lio, still holding a spoon of ice cream he’s apparently forgotten halfway to his mouth. “I mean… I want to say that’s really cool and I’m proud of you, but you seem upset about it? Sorry, I just - I don’t know what I’m missing. You know you don’t have to go to college if you don’t wanna, right?”

“No, I know. It’s just—” Lio sighs, runs a hand over his face, and meets Galo’s eyes. “I _do_ want to go. Working with you and Burning Rescue for the last year has been...” He hesitates, trying to find the words. “It’s been everything I could have asked for. But now the worst of the aftermath has passed, and there’s still so much to be done for the ex-Burnish, and... I just don’t think I can spend the rest of my life fighting lifeless fires when I could be fighting for _them._ ”

He’s been bracing for this, waiting for Galo’s inevitable disappointment when Lio admits to finding their shared work unfulfilling. But, incredibly, Galo only gives him a fond smile, his eyes softening. “Honestly? I figured as much,” Galo says gently. “You’re amazing, and the whole team loves you, and I know the Captain would take you on permanently in an instant if you wanted it, but... come on, you’re _Lio Fotia._ I kind of had a feeling you’d want to move on to bigger things eventually. There’s no way you’d be satisfied putting out fires for the rest of your life.”

The tight knot in Lio’s chest starts to loosen, just a little. He looks at Galo, tries to figure out if there are words to express the sudden rush of affection he’s feeling. Instead he says, “Your spoon is dripping.”

“Oh!” Galo yelps and shoves it into his mouth, then quickly starts carving away the most precariously placed parts of his sundae before they can liquefy. Lio smiles, watching him. He doesn’t know how Galo does it - how he manages to put Lio at ease, just by being there. Just by being _him._ Lio breathes deep, trying to let himself relax. It’s okay - talking about this is okay.

A few moments pass in companionable silence, both of them returning their attention to their bowls of ice cream. It’s Galo who breaks the silence, once his ice cream has been reduced to a liquefied, chocolatey soup in the bottom of his bowl. “So what’s the plan, big boss?” Galo asks.

“What?”

“You know, the college stuff. I _know_ you, Lio, you wouldn’t even be talking about this if you didn’t have some grand plan in mind. You’ve got something brewing, don’t you?”

“Sort of.” Lio smiles in spite of himself. Galo’s got a conspiratorial grin on his face, like Lio’s about to let him in on some big secret. He’s suddenly, unexpectedly reminded of the old days, working out strategy with Meis and Gueira wherever they’d holed up for the night. Galo’s got the same excited anticipation on his face that they always had. As if Lio’s not about to upend their life together for the sake of his own goals. He feels another twinge of guilt at the thought. “I don’t have my flames anymore, and I’ve started to realize I need different weapons to protect my people. Weapons I don’t have yet. And it’s all… really new to me, so I don’t know exactly what it’s going to look like, but both Promepolis and the Institute have great social work and political science programs. It’s a start. But...”

Galo swallows a mouthful of ice cream. “But?”

Lio finds himself running up against the fear he hasn’t voiced yet, and lets the words tumble out of him in a rush, like steam through a pressure valve. “I just don’t want to lose _this,_ ” Lio blurts out, tense again, avoiding Galo’s eyes. “Working with you, waking up next to you, Friday ice cream dates, weekend movie nights with the team...”

“Hey, hey. What makes you think you’re going to lose any of it?” Galo sets aside his spoon in his mostly empty bowl and reaches across the table to grab Lio’s hand. “You’re not gonna leave me for some hot college guy, are you?” He’s clearly teasing, grinning across the table at Lio, and it gives Lio another pang of mingled affection and guilt.

“Of course not, dummy.” Lio manages a smile, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “Everything’s going to change, though. The Institute is at least four hours away from Promepolis. Even Promepolis U is on a completely different side of town from your apartment. And I won’t be part of the rescue team anymore, and—”

“You’ll _always_ be part of the rescue team,” Galo says firmly. “You don’t have to work on a rescue team to be _part_ of one, you know?”

Lio’s not sure he does know, but he continues without questioning this dubious statement. “The point is, I don’t know where I’ll be or what I’ll be doing, how much I’ll even get to see you…” His voice cracks a little. “I know it’s selfish, but I—”

“You want this, don’t you?” Galo grips his hand, looking at him with a serious intensity that makes Lio’s breath catch. “So go for it. It’s okay to _want_ things. I’ll be right here cheering you on. You don’t even have to worry about that.”

There’s a lump in Lio’s throat, and he swallows past it. It’s been nearly a year and he still, sometimes, doesn’t feel like he deserves someone like Galo. He stares down at the table, at their joined hands. “Being with you, being here… this has been the first time in my life that I haven’t had to worry about what the next day will bring. The first time I’ve gotten to stay somewhere this long without having to move on because it was getting too dangerous. I’ve never... I’ve never let myself think about settling down, it was always a luxury I couldn’t afford, but now...” Lio’s voice quavers slightly, and he stares down at the table, embarrassed. “If I do this, everything is going to change _again,_ and I don’t know if I can bear it.” 

Galo squeezes Lio’s hand in both of his. “Listen to me. Nothing important is gonna change. It’s like I said, right? Through spark and flame - and college applications and finals and...” His voice falters a bit. “Okay, that sounded better in my head. I couldn’t think of more college things. The point is, I’m not going anywhere. Neither is Gueira or Meis or Aina or anyone else from Burning Rescue - or this ice cream shop, for that matter.” Lio smiles a little at that. “Sure, we’ll have to figure out the details. Maybe we’ll even have to move. But that’s _nothing._ Cause... in the end, even if you’re some badass Burnish activist instead of an equally badass firefighter, I still get to be with you, and that’s still the coolest thing that’s ever happened to me.” He reaches up to tuck a piece of hair behind Lio’s ear, his hand lingering against Lio’s cheek. “I’m here, for as long as you’ll have me.”

Lio leans into the touch, reaches up to place his hand over the back of Galo’s and basks in the warmth of him. “I love you,” he whispers, not sure he really has it in him to say much more.

“Love you too, firebug,” Galo tells him softly, and leans forward to kiss him across the table. Lio smiles and closes his eyes.

Finally Galo pulls back, giving him another teasing, cocky grin. “Although I’ll still eat your sundae if you’re gonna let the rest of it melt.” He starts reaching for his spoon, and Lio fixes him with as fierce a glare as he can muster.

“Just try it, Thymos,” he says.

Their date quickly devolves into a tense ice cream war over the last, melty remnants of Lio’s sundae, and as they walk home afterward Lio feels properly calm at last. It’s hard, sometimes, to remind himself that the good things in his life are here to stay this time. But Galo doesn’t seem to mind telling him so, over and over. 

He still doesn’t know what the future’s going to hold, but somehow, that’s not such a scary thing anymore. Not if it’s a future with Galo Thymos in it.


End file.
